City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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MIAMI -- For the second straight game, La Salle hung with a foe from the Big East but couldn’t quite get over the hump, falling 93-78 to Georgetown at American Airlines Arena on Saturday.

At First…
In a yo-yo game of a first half, Georgetown continually built leads only to watch La Salle reel them in every time. The Hoyas went up by 28-18 midway through the half before the Explorers closed to within two; it was a six-point game at halftime, 47-41. Georgetown once again went up by 10 right out of the break (56-46) before La Salle chipped away at the deficit yet again over the next eight minutes.

Turning Point…
The Explorers had a chance to take their first lead since 2-0 when Jordan Price stepped to the line down 67-66 with 8:44 remaining, but the best he could do was tie things up. Georgetown scored six straight to regain the advantage, and it was a five-point deficit when things went from bad to worse for the Explorers. The team’s only true big men, Demetrius Henry and Tony Washington, fouled out in a 15-second span with just over six minutes to play, and the size of Georgetown was too much for La Salle to handle down the stretch.

Standout Stars…
Georgetown junior L.J. Peak led the way with 24 points on 6-of-10 shooting ,going 12-of-15 from the foul stripe. Sophomore big man Jesse Govan added 18 points on 10-of-11 from the line, with six rebounds.

La Salle got 23 points from senior guard Jordan Price on 7-of-18 shooting; B.J. Johnson added 19 and Pookie Powell 10 for the Explorers.

Noteworthy Number(s)...
22: Georgetown went to the line an astounding 22 times in the first half alone, going 19-for-22 (86.4 percent) to open up a six-point halftime lead. For the game, they were 36-of-43 (83.7 percent) from the stripe.

58: La Salle wasn’t the only one with foul difficulties; Georgetown was whistled 26 times as the teams combined for nearly 60 fouls in 40 minutes, shooting a combined 76 foul shots. But the Explorers weren’t as successful, making just 22-of-33 (66.7 percent).

9: Georgetown made one more 3-pointer (7) than La Salle did (6) despite taking only 12 attempts to La Salle's 21.

Up Next…
La Salle (4-4) vs. Florida Gulf Coast -- Sat., Dec. 17, 2:00 PM